Tuesday, March 27, 2012 I

TechNews

Tech[nology]N%s:
Singing the praises of Samsung Galaxy Note phone

By Ryan Kamphuis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

When unveiling the original iPhone in
2007, Steve Jobs made the bold proclamation:
that if a smartphone had either a stylus
or a task manager, the manufacturer was
doing something wrong Those words were
quickly heard by the mobile industry, as
Palm Treos and other smartphones with
styluses were collectively thrown out and
touch interfaces were widely adopted

Fast forward to 2012, and the newly
released Samsung Galaxy Note is turning heads
with design decisions that thoroughly ignore
Job’s earlier statementsl Equipped with a 53
inch super AMOLED screen, a stylus, and an
easily accessible task manager, the Galaxy
Note seems to be the antithesis of Jobs’ design
mantra and vision for smartphones But the
Galaxy Note is perfect proof that, maybe, Iobs’
vision for smartphones isn’t the end all, be all,

When first handling the Galaxy Note, the
device seems unwieldy Its 53 inch screen makes
for an enormous device that seems to be closer
to a tablet than a smartphone, and makes one
think that it may be too large to fit in a pocket
I certainly spent my first day with the Galaxy
Note trying to decide why such a large device
could ever be useful as a smartphone I found,
however, that once I started playing with the
device, the screen size started feeling more
manageable In fact, with every day I used the
Note, the screen size started becoming less of
an oddity and more of a killerefeaturel Not only
is the Note’s screen large, it is beautiful The
contrast and the colors of the super AMOLED
screen are jawedroppingl Between the quality
and the size of the screen, the Note is unrivaled
when it comes to viewing photos, watching
videos and movies, and reading E books

The major feature of the
Samsung Galaxy Note is its stylus,
dubbed the S Pent While your
finger is still the main controller
on this device, when needed, the
S Pen can easily be pulled out
from the back of the phone and
used to draw out notes, control
the device, and help navigate web
pages with small text Samsung’s
implementation of the S Pen is
quite good It is easy to use and
very responsive The apps that come
along with the Galaxy Note that
use the stylus are all excellent, and
the main note taking application
works well with other apps and
can easily be brought up at any
time, making note taking a breeze

The Samsung Galaxy Note
runs Android 23/1 with Samsung’s
TouchWiz overlay applied The
changes to Android that Samsung
made to accommodate the Note’s
large screen are well implemented, 7
and the device runs slickly and
smoothly An update to Android
40 Ice Cream Sandwich is going
to be made available to the note
in the second quarter of 2012, and
this update should only boost the performance
of the device Overall, the Note meets the high
hardware and software standards that were
set by Samsung’s Galaxy S II series of devices

The Samsung Galaxy Note is available on
the AT&T network for $299 with the signing
of a twoeyear contract I found that AT&T’s
service around IIT and Chicago was excellent
I never dropped a call, and AT&T’s 4G LTE
network was sufficiently speedy, even though
the Speedtestlnet application said that the

want to be our new

RYAN HYNES ae@technewsiit.com 5

network wasn’t as fast as Verizon’s 4G LTE that
is available on my Samsung Galaxy Nexusl

Is the Samsung Galaxy Note for you? That
depends The Note is a niche devicel While many
will find the large screen and S Pen excellent
and really enjoy the note taking capabilities
of the device, others will never be able to
accept the Galaxy Note as their smartphone
of choice because of its size Despite my initial
qualms with the device, after only a week
of using the Note, I was singing its praisesl

The device works great and fit well

 

Image courtesy ofmetcom

with my life When I was in meetings, I
found it really easy to use the S Pen to jot
down notes; when I wanted to explain a
concept to somebody, pulling out the Note
and drawing the concept out worked great

If you’re interested in getting a Galaxy
Note, your best plan of action is to find a friend
with one Trying one out inthe store only leaves
you thinking that it is too large Actuallytalking
to someone about it will show you that once you
get usedto the size, the Galaxy Note is atop notch
device that deserves to be recognized and used

Mark Your Calendars!

Happy birthday to Mies van der Rohe!
n This Tuesday, March 27, 2012, come

.nnflnnnag

celebrate with Campus Life! We will

have cake starting at 11:00 am. and
Riddle Mies This trivia in the Campus

Life suite.

SGA Finance Board proposals are

due by MIDNIGHT this Satur-
day, March 31, 2012. Make sure
to attend a workshop, meet with
your finance board advisor, and
submit your proposal for the Fall

Is your organization an exceptional organi-
zation on campus? Nominations for March
Student Organization of the Month are
due no later than MARCH 31, 2012. Go to
www.tinyurl.com/NominateOrg for more
information and to complete a nomination.

Final Women's History Month Events:

March 28—Women Alumni Panel, 1 PM, MTCC Auditorium

March 29—Cultural Exchange, 1 PM, MTCC Welcome Ctr.
March 29—Women Health Seminar, 6 PM, MTCC Ballroom

is looking for a. new Business Manager

http://goo.gl/5kZ5x

Tricia Berryhill, Coordinator, Organizations # - G
Ryan Miller, Director, Organizations H - M
Alex Garrett, Coordinator, Organizations N - Z

applications are Open until 1 '1 ILLINOIS INSTITUTE or TECHNOLOG
Office of Campus Life

Sunday, April 1 mam/cam us we

email editor@technewsiit.com with any questions Campus.life@iit.edu